Finding Hiccup
by Hearts345
Summary: Violence was all she had ever known... Her world was one of torment; never peace. When a chance for freedom arises, she takes it... Regardless of the cost. *Set shortly after the end of the movie and I'm ignoring the tv show. Rated T to be safe. I do NOT own HTTYD... Any mistakes are my own
1. Capture

**No Copyright Infringement is Intended**

* * *

Summer on Berk lasts for barely a month, sometimes two if we're lucky. But it isn't close to the traditional sense of the season. And we have to be quick if we want to make the most of it.

Sure, most of the snow melts away, the days are longer and it gets a bit warmer, but that's it. The climate just won't allow for anything better. It also tends to rain more often and for longer periods of time.

Nevertheless, it is my favorite season. Why? Uh, probably because the risk of frostbite is very minimal.

Most vikings hate summer and can't wait for it to end. But I love it. I guess it's another thing that makes me different.

Astrid would say that it's part of who I am.

Even though it's short, summer is what I look forward to the most during the year. Right after Snoggletog.

* * *

When dawn broke on Berk, Hiccup and Toothless were exploring a remote cove on the far side of the island. The two had left hours before, having claimed to be going fishing. Hiccup had even brought his fishing rod to make the lie believable.

He hated lying to his father but lately he had been feeling smothered by Stoick.

Ever since the Green Death was destroyed, the chief had insisted on knowing exactly what Hiccup was doing all the time. He could barely breathe without Stoick knowing. It was rather overwhelming.

Hiccup let out a heavy sigh and continued to stare at the waves crashing on the shore. He was vaguely aware that Toothless was lounging somewhere behind him. Despite the guilt he felt about lying to his father, Hiccup felt calm. The melodic quality of the waves was almost enough to lull him to sleep. Sunlight sparkled on the tops of the waves like gemstones.

_Berk truly is beautiful_, he thought.

He was stretching his arms over his head, when he heard it. The sound of something crashing through the forest. And it was coming closer.

Hiccup's left hand reached for his hunting dagger. It was more out of habit than necessity. He saw Toothless slowly place himself between Hiccup and the forest.

"Easy bud," he said. "It could be nothing."

The Night Fury seemed to ignore him and continued to growl at the forest.

That moment a dark, shadowy figure broke through the underbrush. He could see that it was a small being, barely the same height as him. It moved with a swift, surefootedness that was almost unearthly. It wasn't until the being breached the shadows and stepped into the sunlight, that Hiccup could see what it was.

It was a young girl.

She was wearing a sapphire blue knee-length dress with black leggings. Her blonde hair floated around her shoulders in a sea of waves and knots. Her feet, he noticed, were bare.

She stopped mere feet in front of Toothless, just out of range of his claws. The Night Fury regarded her with an air of curiosity. Neither seemed the least bit worried.

"Who are you?" asked Hiccup.

"My name is not important," she said. "You must run. They are following me."

"Who's they?"

She was about to answer him when a ball of blue fire came flying out of the forest. It flew straight toward the girl and hit her in the back. She froze up and fell to the ground in a crumpled heap.

Hiccup stiffened and searched the tree line with his eyes. He saw three shadows standing at the edge of the forest. As he watched, they moved away from the trees and toward to him.

They too were female and moved with the same quickness as the blonde girl. They were clothed in long, sweeping black dresses with matching cloaks. Their hoods were drawn over their heads; casting their faces in darkness. They too were barefoot.

They stopped walking when they reached the young girl. Then, in unison, they removed their hoods. Their faces now fully exposed to the sun.

Hiccup was shocked. What he saw was not what he had expected. Instead, it was frightening.

The three women were impossibly beautiful and ageless. The hard, angular planes of their faces gave them an ethereal appearance. They were as gorgeous as they were terrifying.

The only differences between them were their hair colors. The woman in the middle had black hair that was streaked with gray. The woman on her right had red hair while the other woman had brown hair.

"Are you certain that he is the one?" asked the red-haired woman.

"I am." answered the black-haired woman. She waved her right hand in a wide circle; sparkles formed at her fingertips.

Hiccup barely had time to raise his hands before a ring of fire sprang into existence, blocking him from Toothless. He could hear the dragon's cries of concern over the roar of the flames. Hiccup squinted into the fire but couldn't see anything except brightness.

He was cut off from everything.

"Run Toothless!" he shouted, fearing for his dragon more than himself.

A roar and an explosion followed by heavy footfalls told him that Toothless was gone. He exhaled a breath and tightened his grip on his dagger. His relief was short-lived because the wall of fire fell that second and Hiccup was face-to-face with the women. Any bravery he had disappeared when he looked into their dark eyes.

They walked closer to him; ignoring the girl still lying on the ground. Their faces were expressionless though their eyes held nothing but disdain. Hiccup suddenly felt an urge to flee that he didn't comprehend.

"He is weak, just like his father." said the black-haired woman, her voice sharp as knives.

"What do you want?" asked Hiccup.

"You will find out soon enough," said the brown-haired woman.

The three women then raised their hands in a sweeping motion. More fire formed out of thin air, this time it was white. Hiccup could only watch in horror as it came toward him. When the fire hit him, he felt as though he had run headlong into a wall. His whole body seized and powerful spasms of pain raked through him. Darkness crept from the edges of his vision as he began to lose consciousness.

_Oh gods, what's happening?_ he thought. _Astrid! Please help me._

* * *

**The idea for this story came to me one night as I was drifting off to sleep... I had just watched _Thor_ and it started me wondering about Norse mythology again... You see, not only am I a History buff but I'm also really into mythology, so I did some research...**

**And this is the result...**

**This one will be kind of short, I've only got 5 chapters plotted, but it should be just as good... I'm not putting any time limits on this, nor am I abandoning any previous story projects...**

**I hope that you enjoyed this :) Reviews are always welcome!**


	2. Discovery

**Here's chapter 2! :) Sorry for the long wait but school's been pretty hectic lately, so I haven't had much time to work on this... But this chapter's finally done!**

**No Copyright Infringement is Intended**

* * *

"No!"

Astrid jolted awake, sitting bolt upright and panting. A film of cold sweat covered her body and she tried in vain to stop shaking. Fear was coursing through her veins like venom.

Three minutes passed before she had enough control to get out of bed. She took slow, measured steps across the cold floor to her wash-basin. She willed herself not to throw up.

"Get a hold of yourself, Astrid." she said aloud. "It was only a dream."

Her movements were stiff as she splashed the cold water on her face. Astrid shivered, but now she felt more awake. She looked at her reflection in the mirror and nearly gasped in surprise.

Her steel-blue eyes were bright and bloodshot. It was hard to tell if they were wet from tears or the water she has just splashed on herself. Her long blonde hair was twisted and matted into knots.

Astrid tried to shake the memories of her dream from her mind, but failed. The scents of fire and blood, and the terror of death weighed heavily on her mind. These feelings which she shouldn't have as a Viking had come with her dream.

"It's not real." she said again. "Everyone's fine. There's nothing to worry about."

To distract herself, she started to get dressed for the day. She finger-combed her hair before braiding it; not having the patience to brush it out completely.

Astrid wasn't a girly-girl, but that didn't stop her from taking pride in her appearance.

She had just finished pulling on her boots when she heard something scratching at her front door. The sound got louder as she made her way down the stairs from her loft. Growling soon accompanied the scratching.

Whatever it was, it was excited.

Astrid opened the door to find a large, black dragon standing on the doorstep.

"Toothless?" she said. "What are you doing here?"

The Night Fury gave a small worried growl in response.

_That's odd,_ she thought. _He's never alone, he's always with…_

"Toothless, where's Hiccup?" she said aloud.

The dragon made another worried sound and shook his head; his ear-like appendages quivering. He then bent his left knee, indicating for her to climb on his back.

Astrid quickly clambered up onto the saddle. She was careful not to touch the mechanism for controlling Toothless' prosthetic tail. The last thing she wanted was to break that.

She gripped the perimeter of the saddle tightly, "Go!"

Toothless took off at a run. He easily navigated between the houses in the village. Many of the villagers jumped out of the way when they saw the Night Fury coming.

_Old habits die hard,_ Astrid thought to herself.

It wasn't long before they reached the boundary of the village. The forest loomed ahead of them. Sunlight only permeated 5 feet inside.

Astrid noted how vacant the area was and found it odd. Usually this early in the morning people were going fishing or hunting. But there was no one around.

_Spoke too soon,_ she thought.

From her spot on the saddle, she could see him clearly. His dark hair stuck out in tufts below his ram's horn helmet. He was standing at the edge of the forest and was either not aware of the dragon approaching him, or he was too stupid to move.

It became apparent that her second assumption was correct when Toothless slid to a stop mere inches from the dark-haired boy.

"Snotlout! What are you doing here?" Astrid shouted impatiently. "Why didn't you move?"

"I wanted to talk to you." he stated brusquely. An arrogant smile turned up the corners of his mouth.

"Well, I don't have the time right now."

"Why not?"

Astrid hesitated.

"Or maybe I should just go with you instead?" asked Snotlout.

"Fine!" she admitted defeat. "Climb on."

He took a step toward her, but Toothless took a step back. She reached down to reassure the Night Fury. Snotlout slowly climbed onto the saddle behind Astrid.

"If he throws you off, it's not my fault." she looked back at Snotlout. "And if you grab anything besides the saddle, I will throw you off. Understood?"

Snotlout whimpered faintly and nodded his head.

Astrid turned away from him and again faced forward. She patted Toothless on the head and he started running again.

She was astonished by how quick the dragon's movements were. He barely seemed to hesitate at all as he ran between the trees and rocks. She could feel Toothless' muscles roll under her legs as he continued through the forest.

"Where are we going?" asked Snotlout.

Astrid didn't answer. She wasn't willing to admit that she didn't have an answer. Not to mention that she was growing more worried by the second.

_Where was Hiccup?_

Toothless began to slow down his run to a walk. It was still fairly quick and it wasn't long before they reached the edge of the forest. He took slow steps out onto the beach beyond the trees; his feet sinking into the sand.

The first thing Astrid noticed was how empty the beach was. Next, she noticed how quiet it was. An eerie calm had fallen over the beach.

"What're we doing here?" asked Snotlout. He sounded nervous.

Astrid rolled her eyes and ignored him. She carefully climbed down from Toothless' back and landed lightly on the sand. A second later she heard Snotlout thud to the ground as he tried to climb down.

She turned around to find him lying face first in the sand. She fought not to laugh. He looked ridiculous.

She was about to help him up when she caught something out of the corner of her eye.

It was dark and small because it was far from Astrid. She could tell that it was close to the water, but nothing else. She would have to get closer to it.

_Hiccup?_ she thought, dread clouding her thoughts.

She took off at a run and found herself wishing that she had brought her axe. She could hear Toothless' footsteps behind her. The closer she got to the water, the more uneasy she became.

When she was 10 feet away from the object, she saw what it was. It wasn't an object at all. It was a girl.

The girl was young, probably 15, but she was short. She was clothed in a short-sleeved, sapphire blue dress that fell to her knees. Her skin was pale, almost like she had never seen the sun. Long, pale gold locks splayed out around her head.

She was face down in the sand which concerned Astrid. What had knocked her over? And where did it go?

Snotlout came thundering up behind Astrid and skidded to a halt next to her.

"What're you- Whoa…" said Snotlout. "Who's that?"

Astrid shook her head, "I have no idea."

"Is she alive?" He reached down to place his hand on the girl's shoulder.

"No, don't!" said Astrid. But she was too late.

No sooner had his hand touched the girl than Snotlout was thrown from her. A bright ball of what looked like lightning had formed at the point of contact and it had exploded. The resulting force had thrown Snotlout nearly 10 feet away from the girl.

Astrid sat in shocked silence and as she watched, the girl rolled over.

Faster than humanly possible, the girl sat up straight and faced Astrid. The girl stared at Astrid; her grey-blue eyes flashing over every aspect of Astrid's face.

"Who are you?" asked Astrid, her voice sounding small.

"Anja." said the girl. "Anja Thorsdottir."

* * *

**Another "cliff-hanger" ending! It seems I'm getting better at those... Either that, or I'm learning to like them more**

**So we still don't know where Hiccup is, or what happened to him... And now we have a new player in the mix...**

**Will she be a friend or foe? You'll just have to wait for the next chapter to see :)**

**I'm not sure if I got her name right :( I did a fair amount of research but I'm still not sure... Her first name is pronounced "Ahn-ya" though**

**Please let me know what you think of this chapter/story in a review :)**

**Until next time...**


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